Dischargeable Debt

Debt that bankruptcy can legally eliminate, as opposed to non-dischargeable debt like most student loans, recent taxes, and child support.

Dischargeable debt is the debt bankruptcy can actually make disappear — once it’s discharged, you’re no longer personally on the hook for it. Most everyday consumer debt falls into this bucket: credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and even older income tax debt in a lot of cases (generally taxes due more than 3 years before you filed, with some other conditions attached).

Some debts survive bankruptcy no matter which chapter you file. That list includes most federal and private student loans (unless you can clear the tough “undue hardship” bar), recent income taxes, child support and alimony, debt from fraud or willful injury, and most criminal fines. Secured debt like a mortgage or car loan is a strange middle case — technically your personal obligation to pay it can be discharged, but the lender still keeps the right to take the car or the house back if you stop paying on it.

Whether a specific debt of yours actually qualifies often comes down to details a general list just can’t capture — exactly how old a tax debt is, whether a loan legally counts as a “qualified education loan,” whether there’s any fraud tangled up in a judgment. If your situation touches any of these edge cases, that’s genuinely worth a real conversation with a bankruptcy attorney rather than guessing from a checklist.